This classic textbook was written during the Sputnik era as part of a collaboration at UC Berkeley funded by the National Science Foundation. The copyright page of the original 1965 edition includes a notice stating that it is available for use by authors and publishers on a royalty-free basis after 1970. The book has gone through two more editions since then, with many improvements. The third edition, by Purcell and Morin, is in print as of 2013.

My initial purpose in this project is to produce a verbatim edition, in LaTeX format, of the free 1965 version, which will be free for everyone to use.

The main body of the text has been converted, including the math. I've converted the figures in ch. 1 and 2 to line art.

As of March 4, 2014, the project is on hold because of the cloudy legal situation. The copyright page of the 1965 edition says to obtain a royalty-free license from EDC, which still exists. EDC, however, no longer owns the copyright to the 1965 edition. That copyright has changed hands several times, and now belongs to Edward Purcell's sons, Dennis and Frank Purcell. Cambridge University Press has refused to tell me how to contact them, but has said they would pass on my request to them.

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